PIAA jersey decision misses mark

September 12, 2013

Earlier this week, WJAC-TV reported that the PIAA is going to ban the wearing of different colored jerseys for certain occasions in sports like basketball, soccer and field hockey.

"We've never wanted to get into the whole NASCAR, we call it, where we're changing and modifying and putting different things on the uniforms," Melissa Mertz, PIAA associate executive director for the PIAA, told the Johnstown-based television station. "We feel that it is to be sacred."

The PIAA move will dramatically alter the "Think Pink" nights for breast cancer awareness, which have become commonplace over the last five or so years. In other words, the teams won't be able to don the special pink uniforms anymore.

Colors tied to other special causes would be similarly affected.

Hey, no one here but Nike wants to turn all of our area athletic programs into Oregon football - whose colors encompass everything in the light spectrum and some that haven't been discovered yet.

That's surpassed the level of being ridiculous. However, that's not what's being suggested here.

These are uniforms worn on rare occasions to promote worthwhile causes. Sure, it takes some manpower to sift through and OK all the requests to hold those nights. There has to be a better answer, though, than to disallow them altogether.

If the uniform is to be considered sacred, then certainly the compassion and initiative of the young people who so very often are the ones to organize these events should be considered even more so.

Rockwood fallout

The District 6 committee met on Wednesday and came up with its answer to Rockwood of District 5 cancelling its football program this year, creating open dates for several district schools.

In Class A, the district will simply divide the power points by the number of games played, district football chairman Ralph Cecere said. Teams that couldn't find a replacement for Rockwood to fill the district's 10-game requirement won't need to do so.

"That's consistent with what we've done in the past," Cecere said. "We wanted to maintain that consistency."

The top eight teams will qualify for the playoffs based on average rating. District 5 uses a similar formula to fill its playoff field.

District 5 is not counting Rockwood games as forfeits, either. However, D5 is maintaining its rule that playoff teams must win at least four games to qualify for the postseason.

Pirate plunder

Williamsburg football is off to one of its best starts in years. In fact, the Blue Pirates have won more games than they have this season just seven times in the past 22 years.